November 6, 2013

           Day 14.
           It's 5:11 AM and the frost is on the pumpkin in Yakima, WA. First some stats now that I've pretty much made it as far as I intend to go. My people at my intended destination say the winter is too early and too severe to risk pressing on. That's fine, I was able to take care of everything from right here in Yakima. To get here took 14 days, but only 13 days were travel time (I stayed that full day in Colorado). In this picture, I passed the 45th parallel today, halfway between pole and equator. That's worth a stop.

           I took down the cloaking device you might say, I used an ATM and created a paper trail. That is the first voluntary action I took that I know will be recorded. What a pity the US is spending so much money to track everything anonymously, but forget their cover stories, the entire purpose is control and taxation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the one with something to hide. If I did, I would not be keeping such accurate records and publishing them here. The point is, publishing was MY decision. It is the guy spying on you that has something to hide.
           I'm 3,965 miles from Alpha Two [home base]. Shown here are the solar panels (SPs) being polished in the gloomy morning weather. The total journey is just 220 miles short, so essentially I did the USA diagonally from SE to NW. From here, I'll likely follow my traditional formula of adventure outbound, then a high-speed dash back to base. [Author's note: this turned out to be the opposite. I did much more vacationing on the way back.] The exception is my plan to visit the Grand Canyon, otherwise it is mostly freeways as far south as practical, meaning probably east at Bakersfield. I averaged 305 miles per day getting here, I will likely improve on that soon.

           Meanwhile back here, I stopped at the Denny's on Exit 36, the one behind the two roundabouts (traffic circles) that form a figure 8 and create a tourist's nightmare. One wrong turn can ruin your day. Sadly, this Denny's has changed into "overserve" mode and I don't like it. They start hustling the tips the instant you walk in and although I was reading a book, some flunky or other asked me if "everything was okay" every five minutes until I asked them to stop it.
           That mostly fake freeway sign for McDonald's on Exit 34 is still there. The joint is nearly two miles off the freeway. I know because that sign foolded me and I walked it one hungry day when I was 16. That sign, inconveniencing people for decades. Here is a picture of the orchard I worked in the year I ran away from home. I have not seen this place in over forty years. It is now owned by a wealthy corporation and I could not walk through it. At least not from this angle.

           Before anyone decides they want to duplicate this trip, I urge you to consider the oddball factor. That's the reason you like this blog. The pod camper design has one BIG intangible. It is built to particularly match my physiology and brand of travel. Not yours.
           I'm used to living out of a suitcase. I can sleep through almost anything. I only need to "go" once a day and that is in the early morning. After three heart attacks, I am expert at peeing in the bottle. My hobbies are reading and writing. These are "oddball" matter that can really impact the enjoyment of these long trips.
           By afternoon essentially I got all my business done. I could head back tomorrow but I'd have to return withing 180 days. The US system went for a dump twelve years ago and it finally caught up with Washington State. I thought it would be 2025 before the crap started here, but I underestimated how much money the other Washington was willing to spend to get everything and everybody on file. Of course, they succeeded only in doing so with the law-abiding majority, but since that is what they wanted, go figure.
           Washington has become around as third world as Florida was in 2000. It is certainly not the same Washington I used to know and love, the last free state in the union. Everything is at work keeping track of what you do. You must show ID to get a guest pass on the library computer--but if your ID is local, you MUST get a library card or they will not allow you either on-line or to check out books. What kind of nonsense is that? (The staff is so low grade, they don't know or suspect a thing.)
           But the rest of the system here is rapidly becoming un-American. At a $10 restaurant, they give you one napkin. One. You have to chase them around for another, and they sure let you know they consider that a major personal favor. Most local restaurants have devolved into this type of clip joint. You have to double check your order everywhere. If they "forget the ketchup", they make you wait in line for a second turn to get it.
           Every document you need is $55 up front. And they no longer hand it to you. They mail it to your last known address after an intentional delay of 7 - 10 days. Mind you, I defeated one of their cross-checks by default. When I updated my property tax records, they checked to see if I had rented a motel room in WA, OR, ID, or MT in the previous three weeks. I told you they had a hidden agenda last year with that Motel 6 database. Thanks to the pod, the search came up negative.

           Here is another orchard picture. This is off the record, but I drove out to the old orchard where RofR and I worked as teens for $2 per day. It is gone, taken over by some outfile that dug up the cherry and pear trees, planting uniform apple tree clones in laser-straight rows with automatic relays for and irrigation gear. The property was closed with gates and signs. But I knew all the back roads and went to the old house. All gone, the bunkhouse, too. The only thing I remembered by sight was the balley to the north. Dang, this computer blocks uploaded photos.
           But names, other than people, I can to. Jerry, the guy we worked for, used to hire bible stuedents and make us work with them all day. Jerry was constantly trying to "steer us right", but the problem was he came from a generation earlier and thought the ONLY women who had sex were housewives and hookers. RofR and I were born into the generation of the sexual revolution and both understood there were many active women who were neither.

           So, now don't laugh, the guy was being sincere, he drove us through the red light district to "teach us a lesson". The corner of Front and Chestnut, the one part of this town that has not changed. This is a photo of the location that was the brunt of so many jokes over these years. Sure, we were farm kids, Jerry, but we knew street hookers when we saw them and were not shocked. Good plan, Jerry, I suppose, except that it had no effect on us. Neither RofR nor I ever needed to pay for it.
           Evening, same day, I lost my glasses at the library. (It turned out later they were stolen. The library knows there are homeless bums working the premises, but refuse to warn people.) I checked with the local eyeglass outlets and the scam is they will not sell you glasses without an exam by their own doctor. I don't have $210 extra dollars. (I have simple myopia and went to the Goodwill and found a pair that worked fine.)
           The good news is that I also got past security and finally talked to Marion. (If I didn't say, she is in an institution with a "case worker" who snoops into everything.) Her loving family instantly placed here in a home where she is in with Alzheimer and dementia patients twice her age, the one thing we set out to avoid. I should mention this is in Canada, where the medical is "free", but you have to go where and when they send you. I'll elaborate.
           She is in a type of nursing home, but the government clamped down on all her assets and activities, including seizing her bank accounts. They allow her $90 per month spending money, knowing it is not enough to leave the premises by taxi, the only real way out. But, I know the system and they cannot block what are called "private donations". I'm setting her up with a cell phone.
           Let me explain more. This takes tremendous pressure off my mind. She could have died and there would have been nobody to tell me. I don't know anyone else in her family. But this private donation is a curious Canadian invention. It is intended for the ultra-rich as a method to transfer wealth between family members tax-free. I won't go into that, but the same law makes private donations extremely rate amongst the lower classes (the working class and the poor).
           It essentially means any citizen who becomes a ward of the public is confined to barracks for life so that everything they do is monitored by an assigned case worker. What do you think of "free medical" now? Once again, I know the system and will not do anything to incur the wrath of the authorities, since they can go ballistic when you get around their little games. But I know their games better than they do and will have no problem contacting Marion whenever I please. They think I am her ex-husband, making it very easy for me to give the right answers to all their trick questions. Argh, Canadians!
           I will also think about what I can do to make her life less dreary. We talked about this situation years ago, but without major money, there is not much that could have been done to avoid it. My system is strained to the limit until I buy a place of my own. If I ever get to where I cannot come and go as I please, I'd rather somebody pull the plug.
           Now you know too much.